Historically, engineered robust packaging systems for radioactive waste that incorporate radiation shielding have been designed, licensed and deployed on a project or application specific basis. This means that such a packaging system has to be designed for each individual project or application. The unique requirements for each project or application dictates the design of the packaging system. This makes the packaging system unsuitable for other projects and applications having different requirements.
For example, a project may require a container made of double wall stainless steel integral welded shells, monolithic cast-in-place high density concrete shielding with steel reinforcing, and extensive machining of mating surfaces with bolted and welded lid. The stainless steel shells, shielding, lid, dimensions, and so forth are all specific to the project. The container cannot be used for another project that has different waste contents specification, confinement requirements, needs more or less shielding, or has different closure requirements.
The use of a custom packaging system for each project or application causes other problems. The cost to design, demonstrate regulatory compliance, and fabricate a packaging system for each project is substantial and cost overruns are common. Fabricating a custom designed system is complex and there are often numerous fabrication nonconformances. The difficulty of fabricating the system often results in schedule overruns and delays.